The Apollonian Hermetic Maenad

Greek pagans in Greece honor the solstice on behalf of Apollo

Here, let me sneak in one of my usual rants in here... why the fuck are some people WHINING about this? "Waa, they're not doing it the way I want it to be done/believe it should be done/the way it was done in ancient times!" Hello, can we have a LITTLE bit of perspective here?? Our gods are still being worshipped IN GREECE IN THE MODERN DAY! Just a short time ago this was ILLEGAL. Right now, they still have an uphill battle with public opinion and the Greek Orthodox Church. I am sure that they can get fired from their jobs and lose their families for participating in said ritual. I'm sure that many of them being Greek themselves are more concerned with honoring the gods than doing it "right". Probably their way of "right" is just honoring the gods however way they can--and want to, for that matter.

And ya know what? That sounds pretty sane to me. I see nothing wrong in their rituals; they're not claiming Apollo is a space alien or asking him to bless crystals on their necklaces or anything so outlandish that it would neither make sense nor make them look vaguely sane.

Perspective, people. Let's just be happy about the positive press and that our fellow brethren in Greece are worshipping the gods instead of nitpicking on the little details. I know that we as a community have grown WAY too used to nitpicking; putting these sort of rituals on display is like writing essays and having a bunch of English majors read them. I think it's a habit we can stand to break.

I think I need to revive that community sanegreekrecons. Really.

Very happy to read this incredibly balanced article by the BBC on the ongoing battle of our fellow Hellenists in Greece:

Ancient Greek gods' new believers

Followers of the 12 Greek Gods, who, according to mythology, ruled the Ancient World from Mount Olympus, have cast a thunderbolt at their Orthodox opponents.

After successfully staging a landmark ceremony at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, their leader pledged to fight for the right to conduct baptisms, marriages, and funerals according to the rites of the ancient religion.

"We are a legitimate religion. But the authorities don't let us do this, but we shall claim this right through the European Union," said Doretta Peppa, the high priestess, who led the prayers next to the 15 remaining columns of the temple.

The move is bound to aggravate the highly conservative Greek Orthodox church, which strongly disapproves of what it regards as paganism.

First service

"They are a handful of miserable resuscitators of a degenerate dead religion who wish to return to the monstrous dark delusions of the past," said Father Efstathios Kollas, the President of Greek Clergymen.

Hundreds of followers of Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Artemis, Aphrodite and Hermes stood in a circle, a mile from the Acropolis, in what was the first official religious service allowed in the grounds of an Ancient Greek temple.

Previous rites have been performed covertly, but the culture ministry was obliged to grant permission for the event after a court last year legitimised the religion, which was eclipsed 1600 years ago by Christianity.

More here...